Yakuza 3 Review

The Yakuza series was meant to be a multi-title game from the very beginning. As such, series veterans will once again find themselves controlling Kazuma Kiryu, the retired 4th chairman of the powerful Tojo Clan. The story picks up with Kazuma living on the island of Okinawa running an orphanage. It doesn

Often times people compare the Yakuza series to Sega

Fist Pump Yakuza Style

Being a Yakuza boss, Kazuma likes to get things done with his fists. Therefore the core gameplay mode consists of the player using Kazuma to beat the crap out various enemies. The combat engine is fairly easy to get the hang of and the lock-on feature certainly helps to target specific enemies. The star of the battle system is the level of interactivity with the environment. Just about every object in the game can be picked up and used as a weapon. In addition, Kazuma will build up a special move meter (called a heat meter) that will allow him to use the environment to finish off his enemies. For instance, you can toss guys out of windows, pick them up and swing them back first into poles, smash their heads against desks, slam them face first into cars, and so on. It

Minigames Galore

As for minigames, Yakuza 3 has them in spades. There are so many that you would be hard pressed to play them all in your first play through. Somewhere around twenty minigames are available in all, including darts, pool, karaoke, bowling, chinchirorin, , chō-han, koi-koi, oicho-kabu, roulette, poker, blackjack, UFO Catcher, batting cage, golf, surf fishing and Boxcellios. On top of those, many of the side-quests have you performing odd tasks. For instance one of them has you staring in a Yakuza movie, wherein you not only have to remember your lines, but you also have to remember what order to beat guys up in and even how to finish them off. My one complaint about the minigames is that sometimes they are required to be played as part of the main storyline. In one case you have to play a couple of holes of golf in order to impress a politician. The problem with this is that if I want to play a golf game I will put in Tiger Woods, not Yakuza. The minigames should be optional. This is a small complaint though and all of the required minigames are very forgiving in their level of difficulty.

As great as the gameplay can be in this game it can also be described as disjointed. I realize this is a Japanese game and it carries certain Japanese quirks that Westerners may not enjoy, but here is an example of what I mean. At one point early on in the game you find out that the 6th chairman of the Tojo Clan has been shot and the local Yakuza boss has also been shot by the same man. Kazuma decides to leave for Tokyo to whip some ass and get revenge, but first he literally runs around Okinawa looking for a stray dog that one of his orphans wants to adopt. Once he finds the dog he then has to run all over town looking for a bone or toy to give to the dog. The entire time I